Thursday with Daddio

 This was not a good knitting day. No matter what I tried to do I ended up mucking it up. First it was the lace edging on the shawl. That was a nightmare that I will spare you photographs of. You can use your imagination. It wasn't pretty.

At the nursing home, I managed to pull the needles out of the sock I was working on. Live stitches were everywhere. It was a sign. This wasn't my day to knit. There was more but I can't go there right now. Later. When I can deal with it. Jeesh. The knitting gods have not been on my side lately.

Daddio's got the right idea. When you can't knit, read about it. Pass me the Knit Picks catalogue, please.

Put a Ring on It

That's the box of materials for the new epic paper piecing project. I can't open it though until the wedding ring quilt is done.

 I thought I was finished making the rings but I miscounted. I needed two more-I thought.

 It was slow going after a while because I sewed a hole in my finger. I couldn't find my fancy little sticky pads but I discovered that electrical tape works just as well. Maybe better.

 Sewing the big pile of snaky rings together was interesting. It was a bit like wrestling an octopus.

 But once I got going it was a quick sew.

 I miscounted-again. I had one poor little ring leftover. It made me sad but not sad enough to add another row.

It ended up being bigger than I had planned. It's now three rings by four rings because....well, because of math. Now I am off to figure out what to use for a backing. I need a big piece of something. It will probably be plain old muslin. I looked at the prices of extra wide material and I'm not going there.

Keeping It Simple

Daughter's birthday towels are finally done but not without lots of drama. In spite of my climbing under the loom every few inches I still had some boo boos on the back side of the waffle weaves.

For the towels I have on the loom now I added an extra layer of insurance. I am taking the flashlight with me and giving it a real looking over along with running my hand over it to try and catch any mis-woven areas.

 It helps that this is a very easy twill. I am not juggling so many things that I can't remember to check as I go. I should have started with this kit long ago. It's simple.....

...and fast. It took only two sittings to have these done and ready to finish. That's my kind of pattern.

Fairy Business

 Down in the card room I had some new things waiting for me when I got back from kitty sitting. I kept the poor UPS guy pretty busy while I was away. I invested in a giant ream of Neenah Bright White card stock after hearing everyone rave about it on YouTube. Did I love it? No. It's just like any other card stock. In fact, I think it pilled more than the cheap stuff I get at Micheals. Live and learn.

Since I didn't get this month's card kit, I also had bought some fairy stamps and dies from Lawn Fawn.

 Too cute, huh?

 They were fun to color.

 During one of my craft store visits last week I found these pastel paper packs in the clearance bin.

Perfect for making fairy cards, right? This should keep me busy for a while.

For What It's Worth

For What It's Worth. That's the title of a Buffalo Springfield song I've had on repeat for weeks now. I feel like I'm reliving the 60's and the soundtrack of the era keeps playing in my head.

Ohio by CSN&Y is in there too even though the 60's are long over. Lessons were learned. People shouldn't be dying in the streets. Not here. Not anywhere.

No one should be fighting Nazis. We did that already too. We won.

Your dads and granddads were proud to do their part to ensure freedom for all of us.

For all of us. One nation, under god, indivisible..

..with liberty and justice for all. For what it's worth........

Home Again

 My week long back and forth to Daughter's house is finally over. Whew....I went through many, many bags of kitty treats. They know a sucker when they see one.

I think they will be happy to see the end of me for while. I am not as patient with the grandkitties as Daughter when it comes to them sitting on my clean dishes....ahem.

 I've been busy making Daughter some kitchen linens just for my kitty sitting visits. Paper towels don't cut it and I'm not a fan of dishwashers.

 Of course I had to stop into the craft store once again on my last trip up. I found some soft purple yarn for the Purple Hat Project that Kathy B wrote about. I'm not promising anything but I am going to give one a try.

 More Aida. I gave up on my plan for a giant sheep sampler so the Sheep Virtues are getting their own fabric.

 The Sheep Sampler-which is different from the Sheep Virtues sampler got it's own new case at Michael's-$4 on sale. I should have got another one for the Sheep Virtues. Darn. For the record I have three sheepy cross stitch projects going at the moment.

I also stopped in at Ikea three times this week. I always had lunch on my way up. It's an hour and some drive and it was nice to break it up with shopping. I love Ikea's veggie wrap and apple cake.  Their sparkling pear water was also delish. I picked up some clearance $3 pillow covers and a cute little infuser tea pot. I am a sucker for little tea pots. I have more than I will ever need.

 I am happy all the driving is over but I am going to miss my quiet corner in Daughter's dining room. Look at all the light on a rainy morning. It was the perfect place to work.

All those teeny tiny little lace stitches were a breeze when you can see them.

I want to thank anyone who ever sent me a project bag. Stuffed in my big bags are all the bags anyone ever sent me filled with all the things I couldn't leave behind. I am terrified of being bored so I always haul a lot of things to do.

For all my trouble this week Daughter brought me home a lot of chocolate from the Hershey factory. Mmmm......you can never have enough chocolate especially when you are tired and cranky. I know the only thing on my to do list today is...to take a nap.

Dear Me

 No, actually I mean Dear Jane. Let me explain....

It all started with this $3.95 pack of paper pieces I needed to finish up Daddio's Nine Patch quilt.

The online store that I buy them from has been hosting a year long quilt along that I have been watching with envy. It's for the famous Dear Jane quilt that has a long history all tied up in the Civil War. There are over 5,000 pieces in this quilt. 5,000. Gulp.

The modern versions are quite spectacular. This one is made from a Kaffe Fasset material collection. It's the Newfangled Jane by Gwen Nishida displayed at the Vermont Quilt Festival where many incredible modern ones were displayed. Isn't it gorgeous? You can see why I was hooked.

 The paper piece store has broken the quilt down by rows and packaged them so they can send you one row a month. I made the mistake of calling the store to get on the QAL subscription list and.....since I was nine months behind I ended up buying all nine months and the pricey book in a fit of insanity that sounded good at the time.

I'm not going to even start until I get that wedding ring thing done so I'll have plenty of time to think this through. As for the material for this monster of a project, that is going to be another fit of insanity because it takes a lot.  Oh, well.....